Markets
US stocks open higher despite Moody's threat
NEW YORK : US stocks opened higher Thursday shrugging off Moody's threat to downgrade US debt, with more attention t
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13.89 (0.11 percent) to 12,505.50 in the first 10 minutes of trade.
The broader S&P 500 was up 2.64 (0.20 percent) to 1,320.36, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 3.83 (0.14 percent) at 2,800.75.
Moody's warning late Wednesday that it was increasingly concerned about the possibility of a US debt default did not seem to impact traders.
The market instead appeared to take its cue from the release of new unemployment data which showed a second consecutive weekly fall in initial applications for unemployment insurance, thought the number remained high.
Also helping was data showing an ever-so-slight 0.1 percent uptick in retail sales in June.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011